Saxby Chambliss on Principles & Values

Republican Sr Senator; previously Representative (GA-8)

OpEd: 2002 attack ad was effective because it was factual

[A 2002] claim was that I smeared Max Cleland with a vicious ad that questioned his patriotism, compared him to Osama bin Laden, and caused him to lose his bid for reelection to Saxby Chambliss.

Cleland personally blamed me for the ad, saying I was
guilty of "character assassination" and responsible for "the biggest lie in America." I did not conceive, create, or have anything to do with the Chambliss ad. But I thought it was effective because it was factual.

Cleland had run a spot associating
himself with Pres. Bush by suggesting Cleland had supported creating the Homeland Security department. It was a clever tactic, since Bush was very popular in Georgia. The problem was that it was false. Cleland had worked against Bush on creation of the
new department.

[Chambliss' ad] didn't morph Osama bin Laden and Saddam into Cleland or say he supported them. Only later in the ad did images of Cleland appear, followed by a scrolling list of the times he had voted against the homeland security bill.

2002: Attacked war-hero opponent as unpatriotic, and won

Max Cleland was a war hero during the Vietnam War. But in the wake of 9/11, Cleland's vote against creating the Department of Homeland Security came back to haunt him. He specifically objected to measures that would give the secretary greater flexibility
to hire and fire workers than existing civil service principles allowed.

Chambliss's campaign, then, used this as evidence that Cleland was unpatriotic, and way too soft on national defense. In a campaign commercial, Osama bin Laden's photo was shown
followed by a portrait of Cleland--implying that the two were somehow in cahoots, or at least of like minds. Cleland went down to defeat.

It was an early and brutal example of playing the patriotism card, and set a new standard for low. But the tactic
worked, and the GOP picked up a Senate seat. But in the end it was very much a pyrrhic victory. The accusation that we were playing politics was something we dealt with often, and the Georgia campaign gave those accusations a basis in fact.

Voted with Republican Party 94.4% of 319 votes.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), was scored by the Washington Post on the percentage of votes on which a lawmaker agrees with the position taken by a majority of his or her party members. The scores do not include missed votes.
Their summary:Voted with Republican Party 94.4% of 319 votes.Overall, Democrats voted with their party 88.4% of the time, and Republicans voted with their party 81.7% of the time (votes Jan. 8 through Sept. 8, 2007).

Source: Washington Post, “US Congress Votes Database”
, Sep 8, 2007

Voted NO on confirming of Sonia Sotomayor to Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. In her opening statement, Judge Sotomayor pledged a "fidelity to the law:"

"In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law--it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress's intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."

Religious affiliation: Episcopalian.

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What’s an adherent?

The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.

Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
AU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.

Americans United is a national organization with members in all 50 states. We are headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director. AU has more than 75,000 members from all over the country. They include people from all walks of life and from various faith communities, as well as those who profess no particular faith. We are funded by donations from our members and others who support church-state separation. We do not seek, nor would we accept, government funding.

Rated 100% by the AU, indicating opposition to separation of church & state.

Chambliss scores 100% Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

Scoring system for 2014: Ranges from 0% (supports separation of church & state) to 100% (opposed to separation of church & state).

About the AU (from their website, www.au.org):Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) is a religious liberty watchdog group. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. AU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.

Americans United fights for church-state separation of a wide variety of fronts. Here are some of the issues we work on. We encourage you learn more about each of them. Knowledge is power.

Religion in Public Schools and Universities

Creationism & Evolution

School Prayer

Bibles and Religious Texts in Curricula

Student Religious Clubs

Religious Music

Religious Displays and Holidays

Pledge of Allegiance

Use of School Buildings by Religious Groups

The Faith-Based Initiative & Government Subsidies of Religious Institutions

Contract with America: 10 bills in 1st 100 days of Congress.

Chambliss signed the Contract with America:

As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body, we propose not just to change its policies, but to restore the bounds of trust between the people and their elected representatives. That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

Within the first hundred days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given a full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote, and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny:

The Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act: Incentives to small businesses

The Common Sense Legal Reforms Act: Limit punitive damages

The Citizen Legislature Act: Term limits on Congress

Further, we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation above, to ensure that the federal budget will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills. Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.